Sociology of Gender-sexual assault, abuse and crime - Essay Example

There are actual websites that suggest that if a woman says "no" she really does not mean it. According to the FBI "the rate of forcible rapes in 2007 was estimated at 59.1 offenses per 100,000 female inhabitants" (U.S. Department of Justice, 2008, p. 2). The FBI defines "forcible rape" as forcing a woman to have sex against her will. The greatest challenge for rape victims is that police do not always believe that this has happened to them. According to Fazlollah (2008) there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that police departments ignore rape because "women often lie." (par. 1).

The evidence shows that many police departments " fail to report rapes, miscategorize and disguise them and manipulate statistics in order to simplify their work or bolster their departments or their cities images. Often, police believe that alleged victims are lying and categorize reports as unfounded." (par. 5). This has created more problems in women reporting the crime because when they are not believed it takes a very long time for an individual to come to trial and/or to be convicted of the crime.

In these cases most of the precincts that are adopting this stance continue to be dominated by men. There are many theories about rape and most of them deal specifically with "why" someone commits the crime. For most feminists, rape is more about power than it is about sex. According to Ellis (1989) the feminist view involves a mans decision to "behave towards women in a possessive, dominating, and demeaning manner" (p. 11). Thornhill and Palmer (2000) have taken issue with the feminist viewpoint and devoted work to developing a different sociological theory.

In their research they believe that rape is about sex because men are sexual creatures. Also they state these facts: Because of these issues Thronhill and Palmer suggest that rape is a " a natural, biological phenomenon that is a product of the human evolutionary heritage." (p. 2). They show evidence